Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Blog

  • Clueless in the Kitchen, but Good with a Camera

    In the past several days I’ve tried my hand at cooking a few recipes, all of which were difficult for me, frustrating, and near-disasterous. One recipe for herb and garlic roasted potatoes called for heating some oil and garlic in a pan, and then separating the garlic before pouring the oil over potatoes for roasting. Well, I didn’t separate the garlic (which was not fresh – it was from a jar), and each little piece of garlic turned the blackest of black in the pan after several minutes in the oven. I had to rescue the potatoes and transfer them to a new pan sans garlic to finish roasting them. It’s not that I can’t follow instructions, it’s just that I figured I’d “roast” the garlic, too. I’ve heard of roasted garlic, so I thought I’d just throw it in there. I guess you can’t do that.

    Another night I tried to make chili, but we ended up eating other random stuff instead because I didn’t realize the chili had to simmer for 45 minutes, and even after 45 minutes it was still so watery. Today at lunch, I burned a turkey burger and spilled salsa all over the floor. I pouted for a few minutes, and then decided to take pictures of my mess. And then it hit me – I’m just not good in the kitchen, and that’s okay. It’s a skill, just like photography is a skill. I need to practice in the kitchen, just like I’ve spent years and years practicing photography. I may be clumsy and clueless in the kitchen, but I’m good with a camera!


    And with that, I’m off to a wedding today! Pictures to follow shortly. 🙂

  • For the Caps Fans

    I just bumped into someone who mentioned the Caps vs. Hurricanes game on Saturday, which Chris and I attended, and that reminded me that I forgot to post this fun (point-and-shoot) picture of the players celebrating on the ice:

    It was such a good game!

  • Blog-Block

    Hi!

    I’m so sorry about the silence on my blog this past week. I think I’ve had a slight case of writer’s block, or in this case I guess it’s more a case of blog-block. I haven’t really done anything in the past several days except catch up on a week’s worth of TV that I missed while Chris was out of town, so what in the world could I write about? So, I turned to my archive of images just now to see if there was anything I could use for inspiration. I found this image below from my trip to Florida a couple of weeks ago, and I figured I’d share something that you probably don’t know about me.

    Random fact about me: I’ve probably purchased more small fans than anyone you know, because I have to have one to fall asleep at night! There’s something about the white noise that I’m addicted to, and it blocks out any ambient noise that would otherwise keep me awake since I’m a light sleeper. I literally wake up immediately if the power goes out and I don’t have the fan noise going anymore. And pretty much anywhere I travel, I either bring one with me or I buy one while I’m there. Or sometimes hotels will have them available for guests. One time when I was in London, I called the front desk to request one and the concierge asked if my room was too warm. I explained that I needed it to sleep, and he said he totally understood and even offered to stand in my room and make a “shhhhhhhhhhh” noise for me himself if he couldn’t find one! And another time, at a hotel in Hawaii, I requested a fan, but the only kind they had was a HUGE industrial-sized fan used for drying the carpet. Best. Fan. Ever.

    I bought this one while I was in Florida, and it happens to be my favorite brand fan. I consider it $20 for a good night’s sleep, and if you divide that up over a week of vacation, that’s under $3 a night to sleep like a baby. Weird, right?!

  • In Like a Lion

    I think we’ve had a pretty mild winter in the DC Metro area this year, but here it is just a few weeks away from Spring and BAM. Snow storm! March really did come “in like a lion.” It started late last night and I woke up to enough of it to make it difficult to get out and about. My little town received about 5 inches of snow, whereas some parts of DC got up to 10 inches! I kept thinking that I’d want to get outside with my camera and play, but it’s cold and windy out there, so I only went out long enough to shovel. Which, by the way, I haven’t had to do in quite a long time. Chris was working today, so it was all up to me.

    The before, including the additional heavy bit of snow that the plow shoved into the end of our driveway:


    My welcome mat, not looking very welcome.

    And the after! All by myself, clear to the street.

  • Shoe Fetish

    I met with a really fabulous bride-to-be today, and we got to talking about wedding details and our favorite images. We both agreed that shoes are so fun to have pictures of, and I thought I’d pull together a quick collection of some of last year’s shoe shots. Because really, who doesn’t love shoes?